That's the Way Things Happen
by O.oSerenityo.O
Summary: The final battle between Konoha and Sound. Casulties on both sides. Lets see how some of our favorite ninja fair in this inevitable battle.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.. but I want it for christmas.

Summary: The final battle between Konoha and Sound. Casulties on both sides. Lets see how some of our favorite ninja fair in this inevitable battle.

**That's the Way Things Happen**

"Orochimaru."

Sasuke's glare was dark, the intent to kill staining the air around them. It seemed like time stopped for that short moment as the two raven-haired men stared at each other. A war waged around them, Kakashi battling a few sound-nins, Naruto as well, who was keeping a wary eye on the fight between the Sannin and ex-subordinate. Sakura who had tried to stay out of the battle for the sake of being one of the few medic-nins at the battle had been found by someone she had a score to settle with, Kabuto. It was time to see who the better healer of the two was.

The snake summoner's smirk was beyond eerie though, as if he knew something Sasuke didn't, which was most likely the case. All he wanted though was to wipe that coy look off the older man's face though, at the moment, more than he wanted to kill Itatchi. Not wasting anymore time, Sasuke began his attack, Sharingan eyes yearning for the spill of the golden eyed monster's blood. Swords ready, the two began the clash, sparks flying from the metal as it collided. A stalemate occured and it gave time for the two to study each other.

"You used to be so strong, it seems Konoha is weighing you down again." The comment caused a growl from the now seventeen year old. "Or maybe it's just that annoying copy-nin Kakashi, or that pathetic excuse of a Hokage, maybe the Kyuubi, or a med-nin." They broke apart them as a flare of lightning escaped Sasuke. But as they seperated, Sasuke began the handseals for his famous Katon no Jutsu, Orochimaru mirroring him. He had trained this boy, he knew how he fought.

A burst of fire erupted from each of their mouths, the two flames fighting in the middle of the two, fighting for dominance. It ended with a small explosion, and the two charged at each other once more.

O.oo.O

Kabuto pushed away from the rosette, a glare evident on his features, his usually cool expression long forgotten. She had gotten lucky with that kunai swipe, leaving him with a rather large gash across his chest. Blue chakra illuminated his hand as he glided it along the wound, healing it to a point where it wouldn't be any danger. Sakura was shaking though, when he landed that blow to her chest, maybe the medical jutsu he used affected her heart more than they both thought. That caused him to smirk. Both hands began to glow blue as he began his acent on the girl, she in turn punching the ground, causing the ground to erupt around her forcing the silver-haired man to jump away.

Sakura felt the pain in her heart, she needed a bit more time to catch her breath and become accustomed to the pain. If she survived, depending on the damage done, she was definatly going to be needing surgery, so her chances of survival were close to nothing. A heart surgery was complicated, such a fragile and important piece of the body, and hers had already been broken so many times before. She wasn't going to give up though, she still had a chance, and if anything, she was going to make sure Kabuto was dead before she was, that was a guarrantee.

"Still weak I see." That caused Inner Sakura to stir up. She pushed off the ground then, rushing towards the clan survivor, a punch here, a bolder smashed there. Medics were known for evasive actions, and Kabuto was a sneaky character. This would be a long battle no doubt.

O.oo.O

Sasuke got lucky as he landed a blow. A large slice along Orochimaru's back. The said man stumbled forward, but jumped away, using his mistake to his advantage. If things continued this way, he didn't have much time left. A slight twinge of panic began to seep into his system as he stared at Sasuke for a few moments. The damn boy was smirking as he flinged the blood off of his sword.

Narrowing his piercing yellow eyes at the boy he quickly looked for his escape root. A wicked smile appeared on his face as he saw a girl fighting, pink hair dancing with the wind, pieces of rubble flying up around her as she smashed into the earth aiming for her enemy.

O.oo.O

After landing one more blow on an innocent boulder, she watched as it turned into mere pebbles at her feet. Shifting her emerald glare to the obsidian eyes of her opponent, she stopped her advance. Green began to surround her hands as she let the chakra accumulate. This was going to be the final blow, she was sure of it. Her expression never changed as Kabuto did the same, one of them was going to die, and both were sure it wasn't going to be them.

Everything seemed to move all to quickly as they began their final clash. One step, two, four, five. Four feet apart, now three, now an arm's reach. Time seemed to stop as they made contact. Kabuto had the longer arms, putting Sakura at a disadvantage, but she was shorter and more agile than the older boy, giving her a trump card as well. A gloved hand rested on the chest right above the heart. It stayed like that for a few moments until Kabuto began to fall down, blood beginning to slide down his chin. He fell to the ground, and stared at the girl above, the last image of his life being that of a smirking pink haired girl and triumph in her emerald eyes.

O.oo.O

Sasuke didn't waste a second as Orochimaru began to look around to begin his charge. Sword positioned to kill his eyes narrowed as he dodged any obsticles in his way. He was set to kill. This man had put him through hell and he was going to pay. All those missions, innocent lives taken, he was using that as his drive. Today, the sound would be no more.

Glancing over his sholder he gave a look of shock at how close Sasuke was. He made his move quick, and the coy grin adorning his gaunt face seemed to cause the young man to faulter for a few seconds, only adding to the old man's glee. He would enjoy haunting Sasuke, adding to his nightmare's would only satisfy the Sannin's sadistic mind. Also, the look of pure shock and fear of what he did on Sasuke's face was priceless.

Seconds seemed to pass in hours and the only thing Sasuke could hear was the crimson tears falling from the two swords. Each of the swords passed through a body, and there seemed to be only pleasure written all over Orochimaru's face. At the last second before Sasuke's attack he grabbed Sakura and sheilded himself, pushing his blade through her for more support. At the same time, Sasuke's katana plunged into the girl's stomach and she could only stare into his eyes with a look that was filled with pain. She had let out a cry, and the three seemed to stay there for a moment and everything around them seemed silent.

As Orochimaru made a move to pull out his sword from the girl and flee he found it wasn't that easy. Sakura seemed to recover from her temporary paralysis before Sasuke and latched on to the Snake's sword with all her might. Droplets of red fell from her hands as her grip tightened, she wasn't going to let go. Orochimaru tried twisting the blade out, and that only caused the girl to hold on tighter as she yelled out in pain. Abandoning his weapon, Orochimaru ran, he wasn't going to face the wrath of the Uchiha, that was for sure. He wasn't that lucky though, later finding Kakashi's chidori in his chest, and a Resengan in his gut and meeting the devil sooner than most.

Sasuke felt his world shatter as Sakura's knees buckled and she fell forward. She latched onto his arms to keep herself from falling into him, which would cause the point of Orochimaru's sword to stab him as well. That seemed to awaken Sasuke though, and he slowly pulled the swords out, keeping a steady hand on the kunoichi at all times. After the second blade was tossed to the ground he allowed the girl to slump in his arms and he could only stare at her with the same fear he felt the day he found his parents dead.

"S-sak-kura..." Her name seemed to only choke him at the moment.. if only he noticed a few moments sooner he could of avoided stabbing her as well and maybe hit Orochimaru before she was even hurt.

She looked up at him, her apple gaze growing duller as the seconds passed. "S-sorry, I should of moved." He shook his head quickly and she could only give him that gentle smile he knew she reserved just for him. As he opened his mouth to say something her coughs silenced him as her hand kept the blood from spewing on him. When the fit died her hand weakly feel to her chest as she gripped the fabric above her heart, feeling the pain return. "It wasn't y-your fault... d-don't apologize, p-please." She kept that smile on her face, opened her mouth to say something but nothing seemed to work anymore. Everything went dark as her eyes closed, and she suddenly grew cold as her breathing became shallow and threateningly slow. She felt herself teater over the edge, and she knew she didn't get to say the thing she wanted him to hear most, the words only echoed through her mind as her systems began to shut down.

_I love you... Thank you, Sasuke-kun._

O.oo.O

**One month later...**

He opened his eyes as he felt a shift on the bed. He found himself staring at electric blue eyes.

"Oi, Teme, I think it's about time we get some miso ramen in you, when was the last time you ate anyways?"

"When you shoved miso ramen down my throat three hours ago, Dobe."

"Well you can never have to much right? Look how strong it's made me over the years."

"Baka."

"What was that, Teme?"

"Baka, Dobe.. are you deaf?"

"TEME! If we wern't in a hospital right now, I would beat the..."

The glaring contest and verbal battle was interrupted as something shifted on the bed once more. They looked down at the fragile girl in the bed, her pink locks sprayed out on the pillow. Her emerald eyes were open wide and she was staring at Naruto with a look that read, if-I-could-move-you-would-be-in-hell-right-now.

"SAKURA-CHAN, YOU'RE ALIVE!"

He was silenced when Kakashi kicked him. "She just woke up from a coma. Don't yell." He looked down at Sakura and grinned beneath his mask. "Glad you could join us again, the temporary medic on our team seems to swoon to much over Sasuke to actually get anything done. It's rather annoying." Sakura just gave him the ha-ha very funny look before speaking up in a hoarse voice.

"Sounds like someone I used to know."

"Aa. Get well soon, I would give you a gift, but I'm sure you don't want to read a novel." Sakura's disgusted look, and her lightly muttered "hentai," only made him smile again before he turned to the blonde. "C'mon Naruto, let's get some ramen." He turned to leave, stopping at the door to wait for the toad boy.

"As long as you pay!" He followed after the copy-nin, turning to flash Sakura one of his smiles. "I'll bring you some ramen back Sakura-chan, and then I'll tell you all about me and Hinata!" Giving her a nice guy's pose he fled from her view leaving only her and Sasuke.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." The raven-haired boy remained in his seat next to her bed, looking down at the bed sheets that covered her petite form. He didn't know how to look at her, he had killed her, he was lucky Shizune was there to resesitate the girl. He woudln't of been able to live with that guilt, he wouldn't admit it, not because he didn't want to but because he didn't know how, but he did love her and if she wasn't there to smile at him, patch him up when he got hurt, or encourage him when a trial felt impossible to accomplish, he would of just been the same walking shell he was as a twelve-year old. He could suck up some of his Uchiha pride to apologize, just for her.

"I recall telling you not to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. You were attacking your enemy and things just happened the way they did." He gazed up to her then to protest, but the charming smile on her face forced him to stop and just blink at her. Sakura continued to smile at him though, she felt no pain right now, and she began to contemplate if she she should tell him again or not. When she decided to do it though, she stopped before she could even get her mouth open, more curious as the boy stood and moved towards her.

Sasuke always worked by the saying "actions speak louder than words," and there was no sense in changing now. He sat beside her on the bed, and stared at her for a moment before leaning towards her. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close in an embrace. They stayed like that for a few moments before he pulled away. He stood up though and began to make his way towards the door, stopping where Kakashi had. "I'm going home, I'll pick up some fresh clothes for you." He gave her that mysterious smirk before leaving an awestruck Sakura behind.

He was going to come back and it was on his own free will. That embrace as well, everything was screaming out at her and all she could do was giggle slightly. If only she knew that the embrace was the start of a relationship that involved kissing, hugging, love, walks around Konoha, sparing, him walking her home, and dates galore, Inner sakura would of been doing a lot more then jumping around in her mind, hell... there would of been champagne bottles, streamers, banners with "Shannaro" written across in bold, and fireworks.

But that's just the way things happen.

**Author's Notes:**

Wow... this took awhile to right, but it was on my mind. Sorry if it's bad... but it's 1 in the morning, give a girl a break. I've never done a oneshot before so I hope this ain't to bad to the point where you think you've lost brain cells. Thanks for reading, Do me a favor and review .

I'll give you a pickle.


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